48 years old, currently have no investments. My net worth is my car and the clothes on my back, and I don’t ever want to be in this situation again.
(Edit: I don’t need to buy a house or anything whatsoever related to a house, so please don’t mention the “h” word in your response, it’s triggering me for tangential reasons. Let me be clear, I will NEVER care about real estate whatsoever, mmmkay? Just trust me when I say I have a roof over my head and it’s completely paid off, no property taxes, and No, I will never sell it, so the whole h-word" aspect of life is not a concern for me, k?)
Just looking for guidance where to invest this relatively small amount of money every month so in a few years when I’m older & frailer I’ll have enough for retirement. I don’t want it to just sit in my bank account, I want it to grow.
For reference, I’ve been living on approx $1500 per month for as long as I’ve noticed, so I don’t need much per month, and the sooner I die, the less retirement fund I’ll need, but we can never predict when anyone’s death will happen, so let’s assume I’ll live to 100 because I’m ridiculously healthy & an exceptionally good driver, never been in an accident, one speeding ticket in my entire life, no social life so I never get into risky situations, so let’s just plan for the possibility I’m going to live another 50 years.
I have heard you should make sure your financial advisor is a fiduciary. My understanding is they are legally required to advise you on things that are in your best interests.
I think this is actually not true at the moment since the Trump administration removed that rule (?). It seems the Biden administration has a plan to put the rule back as of a week or so ago though. If someone knows for sure I’d love clarification.
Either way I wouldn’t bother with a fiduciary at the moment unless you have a very complicated retirement setup. Retirement planning is something you can easily learn by yourself by following standard “Boglehead” principles (the strategies everyone in this thread are suggesting). If you get very close to pulling the trigger and are uncomfortable you could check with one just to make sure everything is in order, but you don’t need their advice on “picking stocks” or where to put money etc.
I have no idea myself, was just throwing out what I’ve heard. But thanks for the extra detail!
Definitely true, although I think this is more of a concern when you hire one on an ongoing basis to manage your accounts. That management leads to conflict of interest between commissions the advisor might earn on particular investments and maximizing return for the client. Fee-only (is supposed to) mean the advisor doesn’t accept commissions, and should minimize the conflict of interest practically, rather than legally.